Millions of dollars have been invested in conservation projects with little to show for it: people are still poor; biodiversity is still declining. In this presentation CIFOR¹s founding Director General, Jeff Sayer, contends that incentives are the key to engaging society in conservation, and therefore efforts would have better outcomes if we move from threat-based conservation (primarily good for fundraising and media) to results-based conservation (engaging industry and negotiating incentives and outcomes). He gave this presentation on 6 December 2011 at the 25th international congress of the Society for Conservation Biology. The theme of the congress was 'Engaging Society in Conservation' and more than 1,300 scientists, practitioners and students of conservation biology from around the globe attended.